


Tea Time Trials

by QuarantineWriter



Series: Team Avatar Adventures [4]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, I like these tags, Iroh (Avatar) loves Tea, Iroh is a Good Uncle (Avatar), Tea, Uncle-Nephew Relationship, Very many tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 09:01:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30120372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuarantineWriter/pseuds/QuarantineWriter
Summary: In the grand city of Ba Sing Se, Uncle Iroh teaches his nephew the wondrous ways of making tea and some additional things.
Relationships: Iroh & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Team Avatar Adventures [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2206728
Kudos: 5





	Tea Time Trials

The rays of the sun were soon to hit the grand city of Ba Sing Se, the place where the Hundred Year War does not exist. There are carts with goods inside, hooked onto ostrich-horses that roam the streets. Guards with their weapons, keeping the peace within the city. The weather for the day was predicted to be absolutely wonderful and there was sure to be a lovely day ahead for the citizens of the Earth Kingdom city. Too bad one Fire Nation prince couldn't enjoy it. Well, as if he was going outside to explore the city anyways. Zuko wanted nothing more than to stay indoors, to talk to no one and remember how far he has fallen. From being a happy prince to a banished prince, and now as a fugitive who's being hunted by basically everyone.

"Junior! We have to get the shop ready for the day!" called a voice from downstairs.

Well, maybe not everyone.

Even if he is reluctant to accept this new life, he followed the orders of his uncle, after all, he’s the only other person not trying to actively kill him. He made his way down the stairs in between old walls with some of the wallpaper coming off of it.

 _I_ _t looks like this place hasn't been fixed in years. It could be worse though, which luckily it isn't,_ he thought. He continued his way downstairs and immediately saw his uncle waiting for him by the doorway of the building.

"What are you doing? Mr. Pao said all the ingredients are in the tea house waiting for us," Zuko said.

"My dear nephew, I haven't even said anything to you yet, and you are already questioning me," said Iroh with a smile on his face.

"I'm sorry, uncle. It's just that I—"

Iroh cut off Zuko's words. "Hush now, my nephew. Mr. Pao said I was free to do the shopping for today. He has given me some money to go into the market. So come along now. Besides, I believe you can learn a lot about tea today. Think about it like some trials." He opened the door to the tea shop and gestured Zuko outside.

"I don't see how making tea can be any kind of trial." He exited the door, followed by Iroh closely. Zuko noticed the extra spring in his uncle's step while walking.

Although the day had barely begun, there were already several shops and stands open in the market. Iroh led his nephew through the market until he noticed a few small stands selling some tea leaves and flowers. He saw that the tea leaves and flowers on some carts didn't look too fresh and he decided that it was time for the first "Tea Trial". 

"Junior," he said with a commanding tone in his voice. Yet he got no reply from Zuko.

"Lee," he said with an even more commanding tone, which got his nephew to look at him this time.

"Uncle, what's wrong?" asked Zuko, confused why his uncle was talking in this tone.

"You weren't responding to me calling you junior, so I called you Lee instead."

"Oh... we had to get an alias." _Another stupid con of having to live here._ "Anyways, it looks like you found your tea leaf things so, what are you still waiting for?"

"Ahhh no, no. It is time for your first trial. I want you to find the cart with the freshest flowers and leaves," he said as he gestured to the carts in front of them.

"I can't believe I'm actually doing this, but this has to be easy. It's just choosing the greenest looking leaves, right?"

He got no verbal reply from his uncle and instead got a shrug from him. Zuko walked up to the first cart, which had leaves and flowers that were withered.

"Well this one is pretty obvious. This isn't fresh at all." He said and started walking to the next cart, which had much better products, but still looked slightly withered.

"Are these ok already? They aren't as withered as much as the first cart." Zuko said.

"No. We must not stop until we reach the top prize and I am pretty sure you know much about determination," said Iroh with a smile. Zuko was fairly sure he was referring to his many attempts of searching and capturing the Avatar.

"Ugh, fine." He walked over to the next cart and his eyes lit up when he saw that the leaves and flowers were bright in color and looked recently picked.

"Uncle! Here's some fresh tea leaves and flowers." He gestured to the cart, but unbeknownst to him, they weren't fresh at all. He earned nothing more than a chuckle from his uncle.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Look closer, Lee, and you will see the truth."

Zuko followed as his uncle said. He picked up a leaf and flower and noticed that they were withered and merely dyed to have the looks of being fresh.

"You see, just like battling you cannot rush directly. It is advisable to study your opponent before attacking, so that you do not waste your energy for pointless things," Iroh said.

"Oh, I see." He walked up to the next cart and once again saw fresh looking flowers and leaves, but this time before alerting his uncle of his discovery. He picked up some and inspected it closely. He noticed that they were not withered at all and had no signs of being dyed. 

"Uncle, I think I found the 'top prize'." said Zuko with slight pride in his voice.

"You are correct. You assessed your target first and therefore, you found the prize," he replied then paid the owner of the cart for the products. "Now, we must return back to the tea shop and prepare the tea. However, making tea from scratch takes quite a lot of work. Are you ready for it?"

"Definitely."

Another ten minutes or so of walking had passed, and the Fire Nation duo had finally made their way back to the tea shop. General Iroh brought the leaves up in a basin and washed the flowers and leaves. He called his nephew over to bring these newly washed leaves up to the roof where they will be dried. On the roof, Iroh laid down a towel.

"The sun looks like it will be shining down with great heat today. That will be very good for our tea, but maybe not so much for you." Iroh said.

"What does that mean? We just need to leave the leaves and flowers in the sun, don't we?" Zuko asked.

The general grinned and face palmed a bit. "You are far too uncultured in the making of tea. Coming to Ba Sing Se must be a blessing in disguise."

"That still doesn't really answer my question."

"No, Prince Zuko, we do not just leave these here. You must flatten out the leaves and change their position every hour. The reason for this is so that all leaves manage to wither and dry properly."

"Wait, so you're saying either way we were going to wither the leaves? Then what was the point of finding fresh leaves?"

"I left most of the flowers and leaves downstairs. We must balance the flavor with fresh and dried. Now, we begin your second trial: you must keep focus and track of time to tend the leaves under the heat of the sun for the entire afternoon until the sun nearly sets, while you also help me downstairs in the shop. I will not remind you at all until you truly forget and the poor tea is ruined."

"But we need to serve tea now."

"I brought my own supply of tea to be used for this day. The leaves and flowers we are withering now are for the next day," said Iroh, and with that he went down to start preparing tea for customers.

Zuko went on to lay the leaves and flowers flatly upon the towel, seeing that there isn't any breeze that may blow the leaves away, he followed his uncle down into the shop. For the past few hours, Zuko had successfully kept track of time and it was nearing noon. He was still busy attending to customers and seemed to forget this round. General Iroh feared that he has forgotten, when Zuko immediately remembered and dropped his tray on a table and ran upstairs to the roof.

 _Oh man, I forgot. How could I forget?_ He thought as he rushed up the stairs. 

It was already noon and the sun was at its highest peak. The roof was luckily made of wood instead of metal, so the heat wouldn't be absorbed as much, but still, it was very hot. Not to mention that the clothes he had on weren't meant for hot days. He had barely gotten on the roof for more than five minutes, yet he was already starting to sweat. He couldn't even kneel down and not get stung with heat by the roof. Suddenly he remembered a firebending technique his uncle had thought him. 

"If you breathe properly, you can control not only fire, but the heat within objects as well," a memory of Iroh in Zuko's head said.

He stood in a sturdy position somewhat similar to an earthbender. He could feel the sweat coming down on his face, but he was a firebender. Zuko knew he faced much more heat than merely this. He focused his breath into a slow and steady pace, then after a minute he got down, touched the roof and took a deep breath. Suddenly, the heat from the roof seemed to dissolve into his breath and into him. He exhaled the heat into the air and the roof was now cool enough, that he wouldn't have to worry about messing up from a sudden sharp pain. He did his job then went along his way back downstairs.

It soon became dusk and the tea was done sitting under the sun. Zuko brought the withered flowers and leaves down to the workers' area of the shop, where the process was to be completed. The shop had very few customers, so he no longer had to worry much about that.

"I believe the second trial was a success?" Asked the general, as he took out a bamboo tray from one of the cabinets.

"What are you doing? The leaves look like it's ready for drinking already."

"We have only finished two of the steps. Tea is much more complicated than it looks." He handed a bamboo tray to Zuko and poured the dried leaves and flowers on it.

————————————————————————————————————

"This trial puts a lot more muscle than the previous ones, so you might enjoy this," Iroh said with a grin on his face. "You must continuously shake the tray to rip and tear its contents and make sure nothing falls off. You must control your strength and maintain balance. Your arms will become sore after a while, so endurance is also a test here." 

"This is nothing compared to my training." And just like that, he started shaking the basket while making sure to follow the instructions of his uncle as well.

It had been about fifteen minutes and the speed of which Zuko shook the basket was noticeably slower. His arms were getting tired. He could feel his muscles ready to give up. 

_I guess I can just put the tray down and take a rest... No, not now. Uncle said only just a bit more,_ Zuko thought. 

He gained some newfound energy and powered through his fatigue. Iroh praised his nephew for getting this far into the tea making process. After Zuko put down the tray, Iroh took a wok from the cabinets, put it on the stove, and lit it using some spark rocks. He gestured Zuko to pour the contents of the tray into the heated wok.

“Now, this trial is much like the previous one. You must maintain balance, strength, and endurance. However, this time there are two extra challenges: the added weight of the wok and the heat of fire. Luckily, it wouldn't take as long as before and you have already stayed under the sun, so I have no reason to believe you can't handle this." 

The general left Zuko in the workers' area to tend to any remaining customers and close the shop. After a few minutes, Iroh came back to see his nephew doing well. Despite the heat of the fire, he was still going with ferocity in every move, yet gentle enough to keep the leaves and flowers from spilling off. 

_A true firebender indeed, he is fierce like fire, yet he does not let his anger take full control,_ thought Iroh.

The general walked over then blew the flames out. Zuko put the wok down then started stretching to relieve soreness in his arms.

"Uncle, how many more 'trials' of yours are left? The shop is already closed, and I'm getting sleepy," said Zuko with a yawn after.

"I can help you with this next one." He poured the contents of the wok back into the tray to let them cool off. 

"This is the second to the last step already and it's really easy. All we have to do is remove anything that isn't a leaf or flower. Things like stems or seeds.

Zuko followed what his uncle said and did this task rather quickly. He estimated they finished around ten minutes, give or take a few.

"Ok, what's next?" asked the banished prince.

Iroh did not reply, instead he took a bit of the tea and put it on a strainer. He got some of the fresh leaves that they haven't dried, chopped it and put it in the strainer along with the dried ones. He took out a cup from a cupboard and poured boiling water into it with the strainer in between. Zuko noticed the water turning into a familiar shade of yellow mixed with a bit of brown. Iroh let the strainer sit on the cup for a bit while he made another. After both cups have been finished, he handed one to Zuko.

"You must try your creation and see how it tastes."

Zuko took a sip of his tea and although it burned his lips at first, he smiled. "It's really good uncle. Refreshing and delicious."

"Congratulations, Prince Zuko. You have now learnt how to make delicious tea. How do you feel?"

"Tired. I want to rest."

Iroh let out a chuckle. "I thought so, you can go back to our living quarters now. I will be the one to clean up here."

"Thank you, uncle." He was about to open the door to the shop when he decided to ask something else. "How often would I have to do this by the way?"

"Not everyday that's for sure. Maybe once every week. It all depends how much the customers would like our tea, but I believe they'll love it."

"Alright." He left the shop then after a few steps, he faced the shop once more and smiled.

_Maybe life in Ba Sing Se won't be too bad._

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 **A/N:** First of all, after three whole fics with no signs of Zuko, I present to you a Zuko-centric one with no signs of anyone else. Second, forgive me if the tea process here isn't entirely accurate. I don't know much about it, so big thank you to Wikipedia (General Iroh would be so mad at me). Hope ya enjoyed this one-shot! Criticism is much appreciated and if you liked this, then why not consider leaving a kudos or comment, or maybe even both :)) See ya in the next one!


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